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When Katrina hit, nearly 40 percent of Gulf Coast evacuees hadprescriptions which were lost, left behind, or otherwise destroyed in thedisaster. Patients with heart disease, diabetes, and other life-threateningillnesses were dependent on their medications for survival, but paperprescriptions and paper medication history information were no longeravailable. Fortunately, many patients had access to medication historythrough electronically prescribed and stored information allowing continuityof care and preventing unnecessary medication errors.
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Without the critical medication history information electronic prescribingprovided, relief workers would have been forced to play a dangerous guessinggame about which medications these victims truly needed. Electronicprescribing technology ensures that patient prescribing history can be sharedsecurely and quickly in the event of a disaster. It also reduces medicationerrors in the routine setting of everyday life -- the doctor's office -- wheremost people get their prescriptions.
By requiring e-prescribing in Medicare, Congress can take a positivelesson learned from Katrina relief efforts and ensure that America's seniorshave access to the safest, most reliable technology in prescribing today.
SOURCE Pharmaceutical Care Management Association
